Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) face significant challenges shaped by forced migration, trauma, legal uncertainty, and systemic barriers in host countries. While education is widely recognised as important for integration, less is known about how educational experiences contribute to UASC wellbeing, safety, belonging, and future opportunities. Drawing on Kohli (2011), the Social Identity Approach to Health (Haslam, Jetten, Postmes, and Haslam 2009; Kёllezi, and Reicher 2012; Herman 1992) trauma recovery theory and human rights framework (UNCRC 1989), this multi-perspective qualitative study explores the role of education in supporting the wellbeing, integration, and success of UASC. The study analysed qualitative interviews with 13 UASC care leavers, 10 foster carers, and 16 education professionals. The analysis identifies four key themes: safety and trust, social connections and belonging, success and resilience and equitable access. The findings highlight that educational establishments can help young people reconstruct ordinary life, and develop psychological stability, social connection, and future opportunities. Simultaneously, exclusionary practices, legal ambiguity, and structural barriers can undermine these processes. The study advances understanding of education as social and institutional contributor to wellbeing, and argues for trauma-informed right-based and inclusive educational practices that support UASC wellbeing and long-term social inclusion.
Highly problematic post-divorce parental conflict represents a growing clinical challenge, with significant consequences for the child’s wellbeing. Conventional approaches, which includes individual child therapy, single-parent interventions, and legal proceedings, have shown limited efficacy, in part because they fail to address the systemic and neurobiological dimensions of the most problematic of conflicts. This paper presents the No Kids in the Middle (NKM) protocol - a structured, group-based interdisciplinary intervention developed in the Netherlands for families embedded in high-conflict post-divorce situations, from the complementary perspectives of a family lawyer and a child psychiatrist. The NKM protocol engages groups of six couples in parallel with a children's group, led by pairs of co-therapists, across a structured sequence of eight sessions. Key features include the simultaneous engagement of parents and children, dedicated sessions with each parent's wider social network, an explicitly experiential therapeutic approach, and a systemic reframing of parental conflict behaviour as a neurobiological response to chronic stress rather than a volitional character deficit. The NKM approach offers a coherent and clinically promising response to a population subgroup that consistently overwhelms conventional professional frameworks. Its interdisciplinary applicability spans psychiatry, social work, law, and education, and makes it particularly suited to the systemic nature of the problem it addresses.
PURPOSE: Childhood hearing loss (CHL) in need of assisting listening devices require a constant surveillance for hearing loss (HL) progression and adjustment of interventions. Despite advances in aetiological investigations, there are still important gaps in understanding causal determinants and progression patterns of CHL. The aim of this study was to analyze the prevalence and yield of aetiological investigations, and to identify causes associated with HL progression in older children. METHODS: This descriptive retrospective study included data from 194 children with moderate-profound senorineural HL born between January 1st 2010 and December 31st 2015, retrieved from the regional registry at the tertiary referral audiological centre in Stockholm County. Medical information and pure tone averages were gathered through the regional public health record system. RESULTS: 146 children (75%) underwent causal investigation, with a positive finding in 75 (51,4%) of them. The discovered aetiologies were genetic in 52 (69%) such as GJB2, congenital cytomegalovirus infection (cCMV) in 10 (13%) and inner ear malformations in 33 (33%). HL progression was observed in 16% of the children and the most common identified cause was enlarged vestibular aqueduct syndrome (EVA), followed by cCMV. CONCLUSION: The highest diagnostic yield was observed when genetic testing was performed, either as a first-line investigation or following imaging. Few children reported a progression of HL in this study group in which EVA and cCMV were the most prevalent causes. Comprehensive or targeted genetics remains as an effective diagnostic method, in isolation when clinically strengthened or in combination with imaging and infectious investigations.
Abstract Youth-led participatory action research (YPAR) has gained increasing relevance as an approach for promoting youth agency and addressing social inequalities in educational contexts. However, when implemented with migrant and racialized youth in border regions, participatory research faces specific ethical, political, and methodological challenges that may limit its transformative potential. This article offers a situated reflection on the possibilities and constraints of educational participatory action research developed with migrant and racialized young people in the Canary Islands, one of the main border territories of southern Europe. Drawing on 15 years of experience in participatory research, education, and community action, as well as practice-based insights from Emancipatory Communicative Action Laboratories involving migrant and racialized youth, the paper reflects on recurring tensions that arise in these processes. Five recurring challenges are discussed: functional interculturalism, academic extractivism, performative decoloniality, ethnocentric and adult-centred practices, and the effects of structural violence associated with border regimes. In response, the article proposes a critical anti-racist and dialogical framework grounded in reflexivity, recognition, shared knowledge production, and the creation of safe participatory spaces. Particular attention is given to methodological strategies that strengthen young people’s capacity to define their own experiences, analyse structural inequalities, and participate meaningfully in social transformation processes. The article contributes to ongoing debates on participatory methodologies by highlighting the need to rethink research practices from the perspectives of migration, racialization and border dynamics.
Child advocacy is a relatively new and underexplored phenomenon in Sweden. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with twelve employees of Swedish children’s rights organisations, this study explores the emergence of child advocacy as a professional domain within the institutional field of child welfare in Sweden. Child advocacy is conceptualised as an idea translated into the Swedish context. The analysis draws on institutional theory and theories of professional projects, with particular attention to professionals as agents of institutional change.The study suggests that child rights advocates is emerging as a professional domain in Sweden. Viewed as a professional project, child advocacy involves boundary work through which expertise is constructed and professional boundaries are negotiated in relation to child welfare authorities. Swedish child rights advocates can be understood as part of both internal and external processes within the field of social work, through which they construct expertise around children’s rights as a cultural-cognitive and normative framework. As such, child rights advocates assume a position from which to influence understandings of ‘good’ social work practice and authority within the field. Child advocacy is further discussed in relation to developments in social work as a professional field shaped by boundary work and broader societal transformations.
In Germany, the childhood vaccination schedule in 2015-2020 included 13 vaccines, for which primary immunization series was recommended to be completed by 24 months of age. Childhood vaccination coverage is monitored through health insurance claims data and pre-school entry examinations. These cross-sectional systems provide limited information on individual vaccination trajectories, catch-up vaccination, and completion of the recommended vaccination schedule. We used cross-sectional (n = 2044) and longitudinal (n = 583) data from the KUNO-Kids health study (KKHS) from Regensburg, Germany (birth cohorts 2015-2020). We assessed vaccination coverage, catch-up vaccination, and completion of the entire primary immunization series according to the schedule recommended by the German Standing Committee on Vaccination (STIKO) at three follow-up time-points: 6 months, 2 years, and 4 years. Analyses included only children eligible for each assessment. At the 2-year follow-up, our cohort's vaccination coverage for all individual recommended vaccines remained below the 90-95% targets set by STIKO and the World Health Organization for 24 months of age. Vaccination coverage for all vaccines increased between the 2- and 4-year follow-up assessments for all vaccines. Coverage was lower for vaccines requiring multiple doses during the first year of life, such as the hexavalent vaccine (71-76%), than for vaccines initiated around 12 months of age and requiring fewer doses, such as MMR (86-87%). Among children with incomplete vaccination at 2 years, catch-up by 4 years was higher for MMR than for the hexavalent vaccine. Completion of the entire recommended vaccination schedule was achieved by only 50-55% of children at the 6-month and 2-year follow-ups but increased to 59-76% by the 4-year follow-up. Despite considerable catch-up before school entry, schedule adherence remained suboptimal, suggesting that vaccination schedule complexity in the first year of life may influence adherence. Interventions targeting this age group, including vaccination reminder systems and health education initiatives, should be implemented.
Margarida Arede, Susanne Brandstetter, Andreas Beyerlein et al.
The article is devoted to highlighting the historical path, directions, and significance of the educational activities of Ukrainian physicians in the late 19th and 20th centuries. It demonstrates how medical science expanded beyond private consulting rooms, transforming health protection into a public and national initiative through the integration of foundational knowledge with daily prevention, culture, and public health awareness. The synthesized experience of the Shevchenko Scientific Society (NTSh), the Ukrainian Medical Society (ULT), and the network of “Prosvita” reading rooms attests to the development of medical enlightenment across four key directions: sanitary and hygienic education alongside the fight against epidemics; maternal and child healthcare; the development of professional terminology and publishing; and the preservation of medico-historical memory and ethics. The initial stage of mass public health education in Ukrainian lands was associated with overcoming infectious diseases (typhus, cholera, tuberculosis) through the publication of pamphlets and the format of “loud reading” in rural reading rooms. A foundational contribution to the system was made by prominent figures: Yevhen Ozarkevych laid the ground for Ukrainian-language medical terminology, founded the journals Likarskyi Zbirnyk and Zdorovlie, and established the free outpatient clinic “Narodna Lichnytsia”; Academician Ivan Horbachevsky explained the fundamentals of nutritional hygiene and metabolism to the general public; Zenovii Levytskyi and Ovksentii Korchak-Chepurkivskyi advanced preventive medicine, sanitary statistics, and anti-epidemic protection. The work of Feliks Selskyi contributed to reducing child and maternal mortality, overcoming popular superstitions, and introducing hygienic standards during childbirth. An important vector was the preservation of scientific heritage and ethics, realized in the works of diaspora and domestic scholars.
In modern Russia, the family is at a difficult stage of its development Family difficulties manifest themselves in the following trends: the spread of cohabitation, the prevalence of families with one child, the increase in the number of divorces, the decrease in the birth rate, and the increase in the proportion of women who give birth after the age of 25. In this regard, the problem of preparing students for family life and knowing their opinions about modern values and readiness to start a family is very relevant. Purpose: To study the opinion of medical university students about marriage, family, and children. Materials and methods: The study was conducted in 2022 using a voluntary anonymous online questionnaire through a Google form using a random sample method. The sample included 633 students of the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education "Smolensk State Medical University" of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation. Sociological, analytical, and statistical methods were used. Results and discussion: The study revealed that the majority of medical students surveyed plan to start a family at the age of 25–34; 56.4 % of respondents accept the conclusion of one marriage for life; 69.3 % ‒ believe that marriage is one of the main criteria of the well-being of society; 63.3 % ‒ prefer to start a family on love; 84.8 % ‒ positively react to the large family. Among males: 17.3 % did not see the point in getting married, 85.2 % preferred civil marriage, expressed a negative attitude towards marriage (54.9 %) and the birth of a child (94.4 %) during their studies, and 19.8 % perceived unwanted pregnancy as a reason for abortion. Conclusions: In the value system of medical students, marriage and children occupy a dominant position, but there is a preference for civil marriage and a tendency towards later marriages. The adherence to family traditions and scenarios plays a significant role in shaping the students' marriage strategies. Most students approach pregnancy and childbirth planning responsibly.
Background The progressive loss of kidney function is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in children with neurogenic bladder dysfunction. A consequent follow-up, including repeated urodynamics combined with detection of vesicoureteral reflux (VUR) is crucial for the individual treatment of the urinary tract. The aim of our study is to investigate whether contrast-enhanced voiding urosonography -urodynamics (ceVUS-UD) can be used in routine urological diagnostics. Due to its radiation-free nature in a more comfortable environment, this would allow the examination to be performed frequently enabling more accurate monitoring of bladder function. Methods Since January 2025, 19 patients with neurogenic bladder dysfunction have undergone simultaneous ceVUS as part of urodynamic follow-up. The children were 11.4 years old on average (9 male, 10 female) and showed one of the following underlying conditions: spina bifida, detrusor hyperactivity after spinal cord injury, caudal regression syndrome, epispadias, infantile cerebral palsy or myotonic dystrophy type 1. Two-thirds of the patients performed self-intermittent catheterization. Results CeVUS-UD can be safely performed as part of routine urodynamic testing without interfering with urological measurements. Previously unknown secondary VUR (sVUR) was detected in six patients (31.6%). In one case, a significant decrease of vesical pressure during the occurrence of reflux was observed. For five children, this led to a change in treatment . Conclusions In this study, CeVUS-UD provides a feasible, safe and radiation-free tool for characterizing neurogenic bladder dysfunction. Whether ceVUS-UD can serve as an alternative to video urodynamics (VUD), and whether routine monitoring of sVUR translates into improved long-term kidney outcomes, remains to be established in further studies.
